Contend
Ebook
Christians in every generation are called, as Jude put it, to
"contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints." If we
are not to fail in this calling, we must understand what contending
for the faith looks like in our day and age.
The mainstream cultural air we all breathe celebrates tolerance and
pressures us to embrace perceived unity as the highest good. In
this climate, any sort of division is seen as hateful and wrong.
Yet to humbly explain and demonstrate the gospel of Jesus Christ to
believer and unbeliever alike is the greatest kindness and the most
loving act possible.
The ultimate question about Jesus today is the same as when he
walked the earth: is he or is he not who he claimed to be? He said,
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me" (John 14:6). With the entire Christian
faith standing or falling on the validity of such an utterly
exclusive and uncompromising claim, doctrine that truly aligns with
Jesus will cause division. When we represent our faith honestly, it
is simply inevitable: at times we will be at odds with others --
friends, relatives, perhaps even other Christians.
Yet we are called to contend, in obedience to and for the sake of
the most divisive person in history. And the challenge is to do it
in the way Jude describes: as an act of mercy toward those who
doubt and those who have been deceived, regardless of whether they
claim faith in Christ.